Sue Wolstenholm, who pledged to resign, is set to take oath at D150 meeting

Monday

Jun 30, 2014 at 10:16 PM

Pam Adams Journal Star education reporter @padamspam

PEORIA — Swearing in a new board member who has pledged to resign would be a fitting tribute to the year that just ended for Peoria School District 150.

Sue Wolstenholm will attend District 150’s reorganization meeting at noon Tuesday, where she is scheduled to take the oath of office. She will resign at the meeting, she said by email.

Board members also will elect a new president, either Martha Ross, the 1st District representative and longest-serving board member, or Debbie Wolfmeyer, a 2nd District representative who last served as president in 2010. Though Ross has run for the post numerous times, her colleagues have never elected her president.

The board also will elect a vice president for the new fiscal year, which begins Tuesday.

Wolstenholm beat incumbent Laura Petelle in the March election with almost 70 percent of the vote — after withdrawing from the race too late to have her name removed from the ballot.

She maintained she would not serve if elected to the 3rd District seat. But Change150, a grassroots citizens’ group originally bent on overturning the board, campaigned for Wolstenholm’s election to send a protest message to the current School Board for its support of Superintendent Grenita Lathan.

Just when Wolstenholm would resign has been a question since she was elected. Under District 150 board policy, she could have sent a resignation letter to the board secretary at any time since the March election.

“It’s a little bit on the bizarre side for sure,” said Ron Michaelson, a former director of the Illinois State Board of Elections. “But legally, what she’s done or hasn’t done is in accordance with the law. It’s just a bizarre set of circumstances.”

The board cannot take steps to replace Wolstenholm until she officially resigns. But several people already have expressed interest in her seat, including Gerald Brookhart, retired superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education; Nancy Overcash, a former school board member in Morton; and Dan Adler, a Caterpillar Inc. engineer active in the PTO of Kellar Primary School.

Once Wolstenholm resigns, the board has 45 days to fill the vacancy.

Board members are scheduled to comment on the 2013-14 year.

“They’ve had a lot of controversies this year,” said Cheryl Budzinski, who attends board meetings regularly as an observer for the League of Women voters. One of the biggest stemmed from the board investigation of testing irregularities at Charter Oak Primary School, which ultimately led to the resignation of popular Principal John Wetterauer and the reassignment of two special education teachers.

Angry Charter Oak parents rallied and attended board meetings for weeks. At the most recent board meeting two weeks ago, Petelle’s last, some board members and Lathan clashed again with members of the public, partly about issues that grew out of the Charter Oak controversy.

Change150 and Wolstenholm’s election also are outgrowths of the Charter Oak investigation.

Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.